A state of Zen

I am now the proud owner of a Creative Zen Vision M MP3 player!!!! If you read my last post, you will see that, after Nick showed it to me last night, that it was on the top of my "WANT" list. You also might remember that I just couldn't justify buying a $300 MP3 player, when we have a baby on the way, and need to be saving, saving, saving...

Well, this morning, during our normal, news, forum, and blog reading time, Meggie read my last post, and we talked about it. She said that she was trying to think of the last time that I bought something for myself, and that she couldn't think of anything. There was the bike I bought, which was purchased with a gift card... doesn't count. There was my laptop last summer, but that is more of a work tool than anything. She had maybe considered the shoes I bought recently, but anyone who knows me knows that shoes and other clothing are always a NEED (like the soles are completely worn through), and never a WANT. She said that I have been working so hard on the deck and the baby's room, and that all of the baby gifts we are getting are like fun toys for her, that she agreed that we could use half of my arranging stipend to buy it!!! I was thrilled, and immediately began searching the web for good deals. I got it on sale at Best Buy, and was able to pick it up today, so I went ahead and ordered it! Meggie is the best wife ever, that's all I gotta say (she thought it looked pretty neat too)!!! In return, I told her, that since we had to go to Deptford, that she could go to any store she wanted to go to there. This made her happy.

So we waited for the confirmation e-mail from Best Buy, then went to Deptford to pick it up. While I was waiting at customer service, Meg was looking at a floor model in the MP3 department. She ended up talking to another lady whose son owned one, and said it was really good, but recommended getting a case. So Meg picked out this neat case that has a belt clip and an arm band clip.

I got the player, and was eager to play with it, but there wasn't a whole lot to do with it until I got home, charged it, and loaded it with MP3s. Next stop was A.C. Moore, where we got a 'Back-to-School' yard flag. We then went next store to Babies-R-Us, where Meg checked out diaper bags. I settled down in one of the rockers and read the instruction manual. It didn't take very long, so Meg continued to look at bags, and I made a survey of what was out there in the ways of safety, you know, outlet covers, doorknob covers, cabinet locks, toilet seat locks (did anyone else try to drink toilet water when you were little?). Meg picked out a diaper bag, and then we went home.

Got the player all set up, and went to transfer my entire picture, video, and music collection (about 9,000 files in total). I let it go for a while, and lazed around, came back, to discover that half of the files had an "unknown error" when transferring. Grrr..... So I went and formatted the player, and ended up moving each folder one at a time. It took a while, but it worked. I then ran into another problem. The Zen won't play Quicktime MOV files, which is the format that our camera outputs. A minor inconvenience, but it bothers me, because there is no way to convert a MOV file to another format without buying a $30 program.

But the player is really cool. Nick said he'll give me an FM transmitter for my car, which I am really looking forward to using this player for. It will come in handy at the pool (I have a stereo in the shed that we can hook it up to), mowing the lawn, and basically any kind of housework. I am also going to move my computer speakers into the living room so we can listen to stuff while working in the living/dining/kitchen area. I won't go on an on about the features, but check out the link at the top of the post. It pretty much does anything, you name it.

Okay, we're going to bed. Meggie gets lots of cuddles tonight for letting me buy the Zen!! (hope that wasn't TMI) :-)